Inside The Bills

DAILY REPORT –The Buffalo Bills came up just short in a back-and-forth shootout with the New England Patriots by the score of 37-31 at Gillette Stadium. After holding the Patriots to a field goal to put New England up six with just over two minutes to play, the Bills offense quickly moved the ball via the air down to the Patriots 15-yard line. With 28 seconds remaining, a QB Ryan Fitzpatrick pass attempt into the end zone to win the game was intercepted by New England CB Devin McCourty to seal the Patriots victory. Despite the result, the Buffalo offense had one of its most efficient days of the season tallying 481 yards.

Fitzpatrick was responsible for 337 of those yards via the air, completing 27-of-40 pass attempts for two touchdowns. With his performance, Fitzpatrick passed QB Drew Bledsoe for sole possession of fourth place on the team’s all-time passing yards (10,295) and completions (920) list. The Bills rushing duo of RB C.J. Spiller and RB Fred Jackson led the way on the ground, as the Bills pounded the rock for 162 yards and two touchdowns. Jackson, who tallied both of the scores, also caught four passes for 35 yards becoming just the second running back in Bills history (Thurman Thomas-456) to catch more than 200 passes. Defensively, DT Marcell Dareus was a standout performer for the Bills—accumulating five tackles to go along with half a sack, one quarterback hit and two passes deflections. Rookie CB Stephon Gilmore, LB Nick Barnett and CB Justin Rogers all tied for the team lead with six tackles.

QUOTES FROM THE GAMEHead Coach Chan GaileyCG: After all the talk that I gave about finishing, we couldn’t finish. Had the opportunity and could not finish. There were a lot of ups and downs, good and bad in that ballgame, but that’s the bottom line. We had the chance to finish and we didn’t.

Q: Was T.J. Graham supposed to come across his face on that?CG: Depends on the depth of that thing and yeah, sometimes he does and sometimes he doesn’t, on the look that he gets. And I’ll have to watch the film and see what the depth of that thing was, I don’t know.

Q: What is your confidence level when you get the ball back?CG: I had every idea we were going to score and win the ballgame by one. I mean, that was my total thought. I just knew we were going to do that.

Q: It was unfortunate to lose Donald Jones, but did losing those timeouts change how you reacted?CG: Sure it does. You could have run the ball; you could have run a screen; you could have dumped it underneath and let ‘em run; you could have done some things like that. But, you get leery of that too much. If you can get it and run it out of bounds, it’s great, but all of sudden you get an eight-yard gain and the seconds that it costs you for an eight-yard gain, sometimes you worry about that. So, yeah, it does. It affects you.

Q: Thirty five first downs, almost 500 yards, but again, 31 points wasn’t enough to win. Where are you with this defense right now?CG: Well, you turn it over on the one, you turn it over on your own – I don’t remember what it was, but they got a short touchdown out of it, whatever it was – we just can’t turn it over. We are not good enough yet to not play extremely well and win. We’ve got to play extremely well to win. We are not there yet. There are some other teams that can do that; we’re not. We’re not one of those teams. I think we are capable of getting there, but we have not gotten there and it is my job to get us there. But we’re not good enough. We can’t turn it over three times and win ball games most of the time.

Q: Can you talk about the penalties? There were a few that were questionable.CG: I don’t know. You can sit here and talk about them. Should there be calls, shouldn’t there be calls. You’ve got to look at the film and decide. You always have questions about them.

Q: It would seem like today, on the basis of what happened, that the Patriots are one of those teams that are good enough to win when they are not playing their best.CG: Well, I mean, they got three turnovers, so they made some things happen.

Q: You couldn’t get the ball in the end zone in Houston. Today, you had 35 first downs and almost 500 yards. How do you do that, what’s the difference?CG: A lot of different things. Our play action pass stuff was better today, you know. I felt like our pass protection was really good today after about the first series and a half. I thought our pass protection was really good. And so, little things like that make a big difference. I do think that Houston’s defense is one of the strongest defenses we played this year, by far.

Q: How hard is it emotionally knowing what it meant to win this game in terms of turning it around the season where nine and seven could make the playoffs.CG: Still a chance, still can get there. World Champions were 9-7 last year, so it makes our goal harder. It does. If we could have won this one, could have made our goal easier. But, it makes our goal harder. I think we will get there. I know I am in the minority, but thank goodness I’ve got a group of guys in there that, I think, think the same thing.

Q: About Ryan Fitzpatrick, this was a game where he seemed to be answering his critics and then, in the end, it was like ‘Yeah, well, he is going to throw that late interception.’ CG: Yep, I hate it for him. He played so good and then to have that happen. I’ve got to help him. I’ve got to make a couple better calls at the end there that might help him. So, if I do a little bit better of a job, then maybe he doesn’t have to do that by himself.

Q: Just the way you used C.J. Spiller and Fred Jackson in this game, not only handing them the ball, but throwing them the ball. Can you just talk about the plan there going in?CG: That’s the plan every week, we just don’t get it executed like that every week, but that’s the plan every week: to use them extensively. They are two of our biggest weapons offensively. The thing about it is Donald [Jones] is starting to emerge as another weapon for us, so as you get Stevie and Donald and Scott and we are starting to develop some diversity. Where they just can’t look at one thing and stop one thing, which is where we need to be.

Q: Is there an update on Fred Jackson?CG: I don’t know if they are calling it a concussion. I don’t know what the word is. I don’t know if it’s a concussion or not. I don’t know if they said that. They didn’t tell me.

Q: With the penalties, whether you agree or disagree, how costly were they in terms of the rhythm and momentum on third downs?CG: A couple of them, we had half of them offense, defense. I don’t know, I think there were a couple special teams in there as well. I mean, they hurt. The one where we had to punt from our own three-yard line and we get the 15-yarder for running out of bounds, that really hurts because they take the ball over there in the third quarter at the 42-yard line or something like that. Hard to give those guys short field and expect to hold them out.

QB Ryan FitzpatrickQ: Let us start with the last play of the game, did you expect T.J. Graham to run that rout that way?RF: We would have had a better chance at [making a play], but that’s something ultimately that falls on me in terms of communicating and getting on the same page. It was unfortunate that the game ended like that.

Q: What happened with the read? What happened on that play? Did you see Devin McCourty there?RF: Yeah they were playing Cover 2 – deep half safety. I thought I’d be able to get T.J [Graham].

Q: Having played the way you played all day in that game keeping your team in it, is there a bitterness feeling today knowing you were right in it and could have won?RF: Yeah, the only thing you can ask for is for the quarterback to give you a chance to win and we had that today. We held them to a field goal at the end there and drove down and had a couple shots in the end zone, but we weren’t able to get it done. I thought we fought out there – offensively that’s the kind of team and the kind of game plan – stuff that we want to do – guys were able to get touches, we were able to get some play-action throws the way they were playing down the field a little bit. [Chandler] Scott was involved, [Stevie Johnson] was involved – Donald [Jones] did some good stuff, so we’ve just got to find a way to pull it out in the end.

Q: I know it is unfortunate that Fred Jackson and Donald [Jones] got hurt, but losing those two timeouts did that change what you were able to call?RF: I think it changed the thought process a little bit if we would have had timeouts there. We probably on the one would have been on the ball and calling a play and going with two timeouts in our pockets and then with Donald going down unfortunately, we lost out last one there, so it changed it a little bit. Those are just two unfortunate things that happened.

Q: You got into Brandon Spikes’ face after the roughing the passer penalty. Did you feel like things turned your way in the second half?RF: We aren’t going to back down from anybody. I think that Spikes is an emotional player. I think he’s a punk at times and took a cheap shot at Scott[Chandler] in the first game and was doing a lot of talking and hitting out there – he’s not one of my favorite players – [he’s] not high on my list. I think that’s all just mentality and I think it’s important that you don’t back down from anybody.

Q: Talk about the penalties especially in the first half…RF: Yeah, the penalties were unbelievable. Looking at it offensively, third and one and third and 21 – I don’t know if it was on the first of second drive, but we just can’t have it. We had some critical holding penalties that you just can’t have and we were able to overcome some of them, but there were just too many yellow flags out there for us today.

Q: There are a few phantom ones out there too. Was there some frustration in the huddle or on the sideline because there were a few where you were shaking your head?RF: That’s not for me to judge. I know we jumped offside a few times and that’s something we can’t do. I don’t know about the other ones – we’ll have to look at the film. You’ve got to be able to overcome those if they do call them.

Q: Last week in Houston you did not get the ball in the end zone and today you were up and down all day. How would you compare Houston’s defense to the Patriots defense?
RF: I don’t want to get into the comparisons. You can look at the statistics and Houston’s obviously a top five defense – I really don’t want to compare them.

Q: Is the Patriots’ defense one a top five defense?RF: If you look at the statistics they’re obviously not a top five defense, but these guys and what they do, they have a great offense and they’re going to make you earn it all the way down the field and I thought our guys until the very, very end there, made a lot of plays and unfortunately came up one play short in the end.

Q: The usage of Fred [Jackson] and C.J. Spiller not only running with the ball, but also in the passing game — can you lay out the way you guys used them today?RF: Yeah, that’s what we want to do. Obviously we talk about it every week and we got away from it with Houston and what they did to us, but today, I thought we came in with a great plan. We had ways to get them the ball no matter what was going on defensively, and even the screens and getting the ball in those guys’ hands in space was special and we saw it today like we see it every week.

Q: Knowing what this meant, it could have changed the whole perception of the season. How disappointed are you for that team in there? What are they feeling right now?RF: We’re all disappointed. If we were able to with that game all of a sudden you to turn the season around and you forget about the five losses before that. This is a tough one to swallow for us, especially with the way that it ended, but we’ve got to find a way. We’ve got a really short week here and we’ve got to come out [and] heal up a little bit over the next few days and play on Thursday.

Q: Early on in the game in the first quarter – the sack-fumble when Jerod Mayo was in your way, were you looking for C.J. [Spiller] then Mayo zipped out there, is that why you didn’t…RF: I don’t remember exactly the read or what happened. I know that’s something we talked about going into the game – not giving their offense more opportunity than what they deserve and unfortunately that fumble was a big turning point and essentially giving them seven points early in the game and that’s something that we weren’t able to overcome throughout the game.

Q: You had some success finding [Scott] Chandler early in the game over the middle and that sort of thing. Did that open things up later on?RF: I think that was just part of it going in. I thought he had a chance to have a good game in terms of some of the stuff we had and in terms of what they ran defensively. [He] made some really nice catches. He’s that kind of guy for us – he’s a big target – he’s a guy that’s going to be able to beat linebackers in coverage, and sometimes when you bring in the dime or whoever on the third down, with his big body we expect him to win and he did a good job today.

WR Donald Jones–Scored TD on 2-yd. rec. in 4th qtr. to reduce Patriots lead to 34-31 … TD was 6th of career, 4th this season –4 TD in season extends new personal season high (had 2 in 2011) –Tied career-high with 6 rec. for 2nd consecutive game (also had 6 last week at Hou. & 11/13/11 at Dal.) … 74 rec. yds. are 3rd highest in career; all 3 have been vs. Patriots (101 vs. N.E. 9/25/11; 90 vs. N.E. 9/30/12) –Has rec. in 24 of last 25 games (was held without rec. 11/20/11 at Mia., the game in which his career-long 15-game streak was halted) –Has had 4+ rec. in 5 of 9 games in 2012 (had 6 rec. at Hou. last week, 5 at N.Y.J. 9/9 and at Cle. 9/23, 4 vs. Ten. 10/21) –Is one of 3 Bills (along with Stevie Johnson and Scott Chandler) with rec. in all 9 games this season –Has already established new personal season highs with 32 rec. & 380 rec. yds. (had 23-231 in 2011)

DT Kyle Williams–Shared sack with Marcell Dareus in 3rd qtr. … With team-high 5.0 sacks in 2012, needs to participate in one more takedown to match personal season sack high (5.5 in 2010) –Takedown occurred on 3rd down play on opening drive of second half & forced Patriots to punt –Bills are 8-9 with Williams sack, 1-3 when he participates in two

QB Ryan Fitzpatrick–With 23-yd. pass to Scott Chandler in 2nd qtr., became 5th QB in team history with 10,000 passing yds. –Also moved to 4th on Bills all-time passing yardage list with 10,265 … today moved past Drew Blesdoe (10,151) and is 4,873 behind #3 Jack Kemp (15,138) –337 passing yds. … 8th career 300-yd. game (7th with Bills), 2nd of season (350 vs. N.E. 9/30) –4th QB in club history with 7+ games of 300+ yds., joining Jim Kelly (26), Joe Ferguson (10), and Drew Bledsoe (8) –Has had 300+ yd. game in each of last 3 seasons (2 in 2010, 3 in 2011, 2 in 2012) … is 3rd Bills QB with 3+ season streak, joining Jim Kelly (11 seasons, 1986-96) and Joe Ferguson (1981-84) –Also had 350 yds. in first meeting of season series (9/30) … 3rd time a Bills QB had 300+ yds. in both games of season series, joining Drew Bledsoe (2002 vs. N.E.) and Fitzpatrick (2011 vs N.E.) –Threw 2 TDs passes today (3 yds. to Scott Chandler in 2nd qtr., 2 yds. to Donald Jones in 4th qtr.) … 21st multi-TD game in career, 6th of season (was held without TD in games 5, 6 & 8) –7th time a Bills QB has 17+ TD passes through first 9 games of season, joining Jim Kelly (20 in 1991 and 18 in 1992), Joe Ferguson (19 in 1981, 18 in 1975 and 1983), and Drew Bledsoe (17 in 2002) –73 career TDs with Bills remains 4th on club all-time chart … 4 behind #3 Jack Kemp (77) –67.50 % completion rate today … 36th game in NFL career with 60% comp. rate (min. 20 att.) … Fitzpatrick’s teams are 15-20-1 when completing 60% or better –60.01% career completion rate with Bills remains 4th on Bills’ all-time list, behind 60.93% by Trent Edwards (535-878), 60.48% by Rob Johnson (401-663), and 60.13% by Jim Kelly (2,874-4,780) –27 completions today … along with 27 vs. Ten. 10/21 and 25 at Hou. last week, has 3 straight games with 25+ completions for first time in career (other streaks occurred in games 2-3, 2011 and games 11- 12, 2011) … first Bills QB with 3 consecutive games with 25+ completions since Drew Bledsoe opened 2002 season with 5 in a row … 8th time a Bills QB has had 3+ games in season with 25+ completions (joining Drew Bledsoe-7 in 2002, Fitzpatrick-6 in 2011, Jim Kelly-5 in 1991, 4 in 1987 & 1994, and 3 in 1989 & 1992) –33rd time in career with 20+ comp. … Fitzpatrick’s teams are 7-25-1 in such games, Bills are 6-18 … 24 times as Bill with 20+ comp., 3rd on team’s all-time list, behind Jim Kelly (65) and Joe Ferguson (27) –Moved into 4th on Bills all-time completion list with 920 … today surpassed Drew Bledsoe (905) … 120 behind #3 Jack Kemp (1,040) –1,533 career pass att. with Bills now ranks 4th on club all-time list … today moved past Drew Bledsoe (1,531) … 707 behind #3 Jack Kemp (2,240) –9-of-14 for 102 yds. on 3 TD drives … 4-of-5 for 46 yds. on FG drive –Had 99.7 passer rating today … 16th time in career with rating of 90+ … Fitzpatrick’s teams are 10-6 with 90+ rating (min. 20 att.) … 30th time in career with rating of 80+ (min. 20 att.), 25th time with Bills … Fitzpatrick’s teams are 16-13-1 with 80+ rating; Bills are 13-12 –80.1 rating in Bills career remains 5th on Bills’ all-time list (min. 250 att.), behind 85.5 by Rob Johnson, 84.4 by Jim Kelly, 81.9 by Frank Reich, and 81.7 by Doug Flutie –87.5 rating this season ranks 5th on Bills’ single-season chart, trailing only 102.9 by Rob Johnson in 1998, 101.2 by Jim Kelly in 1990, 97.6 by Kelly in 1991, and 90.0 by Joe Ferguson in 1976 –21-39-1 record as NFL starter (17-29 with Bills)

RB C.J. Spiller–70 rushing yds. increased season total to team-leading 632 –Has averaged club-record 5.51 yds. per rushing attempt in career (268-1,476) (min. 200 att.) … 2nd highest average was posted by O.J. Simpson (4.80 – 2,123-10,183), with #3 position held by current Bill Fred Jackson (4.58 – 892-4,092) –Averaging 7.26 yds. per attempt in 2012 (87-632), a new club single-season record … previous mark was held by O.J. Simpson in 1973 (6.03 – 332-2,003) –7.26 avg. through 9 games is 2nd highest in NFL since 1960 among players with at least 85 att. through 9 games … others with 7.00 or better: Miami RB Mercury Morris in 1973 (7.32, 104-761) & Cleveland RB Jim Brown in 1963 (7.10, 182-1,293) –4 rec. today … along with 4 rec. at Ari. 10/14, 6 vs. Ten 10/21, and 5 at Hou. last week, has 4+ rec. in 4 straight games, longest such streak in NFL career; streak with 4+ rec. is 2nd of career (previous streak occurred in first 2 games in NFL, games 1-2, 2010) … last Bills RB with 4-game streak with 4+ rec.: Fred Jackson in games 3-6, 2011 (5, 5, 6, 5); Jackson is also on current 4-game streak (5, 8, 5, 4) –131 scrimmage yds. (70 rush, 61 rec.) … Along with 110 yds. at Ari. 10/14, 102 vs. Ten. 10/21, and 102 at Hou., last week, has 100+ scrimmage yds. in 4 straight games … streak is 2nd of career (other streak was 5-gamer between game 14, 2011 and game 2, 2012) TE Scott Chandler –Scored TD on 3-yd. rec. in 2nd qtr. to reduce Patriots lead to 24-17 … 11th TD rec. of career, 5th this season –11 career TD rec. ties Keith McKeller for 4th most by Bills TE –5 TD rec. this season tie as 4th most by Bills TE in single season … needs 1 to tie club record set by Pete Metzelaars in 1992 and matched by Jay Riemersma in 1998 and Chandler in 2011 –Has rec. in 22 of last 23 games and in last 10 straight … 10-game rec. streak is 2nd longest of career, behind 12-gamer (games 1-12, 2011) –All 5 rec. today resulted in first downs … 23 of 27 rec. in 2012 (85.2%) have moved the chains … 48 of 66 career rec. (72.7%) have given Bills new set of downs –Is one of 3 Bills (along with Stevie Johnson and Donald Jones) with rec. in all 9 games this season

PHOTOS OF THE DAY
QB Ryan Fitzpatrick passed Drew Bledsoe (905) for fourth place on the team’s all-time completions list on Sunday. Fitzpatrick also became the fifth Bills quarterback to reach 10,000 passing yards.
RB Fred Jackson became the second Bills running back with 200 receptions joining Thurman Thomas. Jackson is also one of four players in franchise history with 4,000 rushing & 1,500 receiving yds. in career, along with Thomas, O.J. Simpson, and Joe Cribbs.
TE Scott Chandler has 11 touchdown receptions and is tied for fourth place (Keith McKeller – 11) among Bills tight ends all-time.
DT Kyle Williams shared a half sack on Patriots QB Tom Brady with fellow DT Marcell Dareus. Williams had one tackle, an assist, and three quarterback hits in yesterday’s game.

THIS DAY IN BILLS HISTORYNovember 12, 2000
KALSU AND SAIMES GO ON THE WALL OF FAME Former guard Bob Kalsu and safety George Saimes were inducted into the Bills Wall of Fame as Buffalo defeated the Chicago Bears 20-3 at Ralph Wilson Stadium.
DAILY LINKSBuffalo News-Bills come up short in Foxborough shootout